The definition of madness… English on jobs

David SHEARERLabour Leader
10 November 2012
MEDIA STATEMENTThe definition of madness…
English on jobs

“Bill English’s belated
admission that the Government is nowhere near on track to
create the 170,000 new jobs it promised over four years is
cold comfort for the 300,000 jobless Kiwis,” says David
Shearer.

The Finance Minister yesterday conceded the
Government is “behind the 170,000 track” and in
the last quarter there were no new jobs created at all.

But in almost the same breath Bill English dismissed the
7.3% unemployment rate as a “slow patch” and a
“blip.” And he said the Government needed to “crack
on” with its economic policies, adding that “we’ve got
the balance about right.”

“It beggars belief
that Bill English and John Key can remain so relaxed about
their Government’s appalling record on jobs. Unemployment
is at a 13-year high and would be even worse if a thousand
Kiwis a week weren’t giving up on building their future
here and moving to Australia.

“This is not a blip.
This is a rudderless economy that is leaving
tens-of-thousands of families on the scrapheap without work
or hope.

”What will it take to get through to the
Government that its policies are not working for New
Zealand?

“As the saying goes, the definition of
madness is doing the same thing over and over again and
expecting different results. Well, that is exactly what
National is doing with our economy.

“They keep
trying the same old failed policies – selling our assets,
cutting workers rights and driving down wages. And we keep
getting the same results – job losses, low wages and a
stagnant economy. It is economic madness.

“The
next Labour government will not sit on the sidelines like
National and watch New Zealand slide backwards. We need a
hands-on Government that is prepared to back Kiwi workers,
families and businesses,” says David Shearer.

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